Shelix head on Powermatic PJ882 jointer

[Rob Burch]

Greeting folks

I have made the decision to upgrade my PJ882 to a shelix head. A nicked set of knives helped me make that call. OK.... gave me the excuse I was looking for to change to a shelix head. At any rate...its on its way.

Now I have a question on setting up the jointer with it. I have watched the Woodwhisperer's video on installing which is straightforward enough as well as his video on setting up the jointer, including getting the tables co-planner. Again, I understand that process.

One thing still isn't clear to me is: How do I get the top dead center of the cutter even with the outfeed table.

In a straight knife head the blades are set to the outfeed table. I use a dial indicator and check at three points across the table with a dial indicator and adjustments are made by moving the knife in the head with the jack screws.

With a carbide cutter the cutting edges are fixed to the head so to get the table in line it would seem you have to move the table, by tiny amounts.

I am also concerned a bit that if the outfeed table is not in plane with the cutters you would have to adjust the outfeed table to the head first.

With knives I would:

1. Adjust the tables to be co-planner (if necessary)

2. Set all knives to the outfeed table

With the Shelix head my guess would be that the process would look like

1. Install the head with cutters installed

2. Set the outfeed table to the cutters. If there is a difference between the cutter head and the table from the fence to the outside (across the outfeed table meaning the outfeed and the cutter are not parallel) you would have to adjust the outfeed table to be parallel to the cutter and then adjust the Outfeed table height to the cutters.

3. From there you would remove a row or two of cutters for straight edge clearance and then set the infeed table to be co-planer with the outfeed table

4. reinstall removed cutters

Perhaps I am overthinking it and the likelihood of the cutter head and outfeed table not being parallel is low but I if its possible, I will be THAT GUY.

For those that have made this upgrade to the PJ882 or any other jointer.....does this sound like the right process.

Thanks for any advice.
Rob

[George Makra]

For your measurements go off the body of the cutter not the the cutting inserts.

[Bobby Robbinett]

You install the head.

Then set the outfeed table coplaner with the cutterhead body. This is done by adjusting your cams on a parallelogram jointer or by shims on a dovetail way designed jointer.

Once you have your outfeed coplaner to the cutter head body then you set your carbide cutters to the height setting on your outfeed table. The table should at this point already be adjusted to the cutter head body. So you are essentially just setting the height of the outfeed relative to the cutters. Yes you do make very fine adjustments but this is not as difficult as you might think. I recommend to clean and lube all adjustment points on your jointer prior to doing this (while you have it apart) so that the fine adjustments are not as difficult.

At this point the outfeed side is done. So just raise your infeed table and make it coplaner to the out feed side and then you are done.

[Mike Kees]

Your machine likely has pillow blocks holding the bearings at each end of the cutter head. These " blocks "are screwed down to the main casting, usually with two allen bolts. They are precision machined both to hold the bearings and shaft in place but also on the bottom surface to keep your cutter head aligned. If anything is slightly out ,most likely these blocks would have shims under them. So ,all this to say when you take it apart pay attention if there are any shims so they get reinstalled in the proper position. (Right side not switched.) It should be a pain free experience. If any adjustment is needed I would do the adjusting here ,especially if your jointer beds are already co planer.

[Alex Zeller]

I have the 882 with the Byrd head. Here's what I did (with it unplugged of course). I set the jointer so it was close to level (evenly split between the infeed at outfeed tables. I then removed the belt guard so I could turn the cutter head from the side. I set the outfeed table parallel to the cutter head based off of the highest point the insert reaches. I used a dial gauge I set up to read zero when it was clamped to the table and reading the same table. Starting with the back insert I slowly moved the table until the indicator would read zero. Then slightly rotating the cutter head so the front insert could be measured I did the same thing by adjusting both sets of the adjusters equally so the outfeed bed stayed close to level. For example if the front of the bed of the outfeed table is too low I raise both front adjusters on the outfeed table. Lots of adjustment so no shimming is needed.

You can turn the head so the insert is out of the way and set up the infeed table to the outfeed table. Or you can raise the outfeed table up high enough to clear the inserts and then simply just reset the outfeed table up to the cutter head (which I check every so often anyways) by lowering it without touching any of the 4 adjusters. Being a parallelogram design you have so much adjustment that you don't need to follow the rules that one would follow with a dovetail jointer. I then set up the front table to match the back table. To do that I start off with adjusting them in pairs. For example if the front of the infeed table is too low I adjust both from adjusters. If the tables aren't coplanner I adjust both adjusters furthest away from the cutter head.

The adjusters don't like to have just one moved as this tries to twist the bed. So I wait until the very end and only do it to make very fine adjustments. But I wait until after I get it really close and have rechecked the outfeed table to the cutter head (which shouldn't have moved). It's actually not very hard to do.

[Rob Burch]

Thanks everyone for the great and helpful advice. I’m sure I’ll use all of when my head gets here.

[Charles Coolidge]

This gadget right here, been using the heck out of it since I purchased it. Note that flat indicator end unscrews and fits perfectly on a 4/40 Mitutoyo indicator.

https://www.woodcraft.com/products/o...&utm_source=cj

5349991_image_2_12.jpg

[Rob Burch]

Thanks Charles. I do have one of those and it is very handy